Bienvenidos!

I'm officially in Barcelona! Can't believe I'm actually here, but it's already better than I expected. Earlier today Ella and I took a cab to our home stay and met Mariana, our house mother. She is so sweet but speaks no (literally not a word) of English. She couldn't stop calling Ella and I "bonitas" "guapas" and "preciosas" (basically pretty and precious- quite the self esteem booster for the first day) She gave us lots of hugs and seemed warm and excited to have us in her home. Ella and I tried to help her clean up after dinner but she said our job is to have fun, be happy, go to las discotecas (clubs), study and enjoy life. Safe to say I love her attitude. She has 3 kids and some grandkids and made sure to show us all their pictures throughout the house. She might also be the most popular woman in Spain. Her phone rang about 6 six times within the first 45 minutes of us being there. It's nice to be around someone so happy and she's patient with our spanish which is good.

Ella and I have a little room with two twin beds and plenty of armoires for our clothes. After we unpacked, Mariana took us to get go phones (which feels prehistoric in my hands but I love it) and then took us on the subway over to our school. We went all the way in the building up to where we will have orientation tomorrow. Then we walked around some because our school is right next to Las Ramblas (a market place with lots of shops and touristy things), Plaza Catalunya, lots of clothing stores, and cafes. We saw two works of Gaudi in that area and found out we can go back to tour them later. Then Ella and I were exhausted (at that point we had pulled an all nighter) so we rode the subway home and took naps. Mariana prepared a delicious dinner of soup, ham and cheese croquettes, vegetables, sangria, and flan for dessert. She loves to cook which is great! 

Now Ella and I are looking up places to go on mapquest- happy to have discovered that many of the recommended bars and clubs are only 9 blocks away from us. We want to meet up with other friends, but communication is hard right now because not everyone has bought a go phone yet. Oh well, we'll probably go walk around later anyways. More to come later, including pictures and better stories, but I wanted to remember my first full day in Spain! So far so good and fingers crossed it stays that way! Adios for now! 

Lauren